Invisionary Photography

Posted By Admin on February 11, 2012

It seems with the advances made in technology, that more and
more folks think theyre television host material impeded only by a
lack of sponsors and connections. Truth of the matter is that most
homemade videos – and a whole lot of the professional stuff -
pretty much stink.

There are some exceptions, of course, including northeast
Nebraskas own native Dusty Lutt whose young career is on the rise
and hes doing video shorts for Sitka Gear as well as filming hunts
for some outdoor shows.

Yet, I know hes been told his work is too artsy by some outfits,
who insist on filling their glorified infomercials with cheesy
conversation and questionable ethics, with too little woodsmanship
and appreciation for the outdoors.

That we are continually fed this barely-veiled advertising coupled
with fist-pumps and chest-thumping, which often comes at the
expense of the real wild experience, is partly our own problem as
we continue to support the advertisers and professional outdoor
personalities who produce it.

I do not subscribe to the so-called outdoor channels partly because
Im a cheapskate, and partly because doing business with
Time-Warner can be as frustrating as watching . But mostly its
because the critical mass in the industry depicts the outdoor
sports in a way that I dont think comes off very positive in the
eyes of the non-sportsman.

Granted, those non-participants are not the target audience of
these shows, but when many of these shows also turn off the old
guard in the hunting and fishing world, I have to question whether
they are helping to further the long-standing traditions of
woodsmanship, respect for game, and appreciation of the
outdoors.

Instead they sell the ridiculous touchdown dances, logo-plastered
rigs, and the husbands who many times are blatantly capitalizing on
their wives attributes to lure the TV crowd each week.

Is this helping us perpetuate the outdoor recreations, or are they
turning them into competitions? Are they helping teach ethics in
the field, or making shortcuts like food plots and high-fence hunts
look like the norm?

I recently, like so many of the rest of you, ended up on YouTube so
far away from where I started and viewed two amateur hunting videos
that were par for the course. One featured a Duck Commander wannabe
and his fist-pumping buddy speaking in a breathless hush about
waiting for a 180 to 200-inch whitetail, but then whacking the
first 100-inch buck to walk by.

Nothing wrong with taking anything legal that, as my pal Brian
says, makes you smile. But when the host prefaces it with his
views on game management and declares that he smoked the deer when
anyone with 20/20 vision and a bowhunter education certificate can
see his shot placement was poor and the hunter was darn
lucky.

The second showed a guy in the antelope blind that as soon as his
quarry wandered in range, he let fly with an arrow. This, even
though the buck was not only facing him, but also staring at him as
well. That he missed was the only redeeming value.

Why people would post such private moments exemplifying poor
judgment is beyond me. But like so many of their kind, these videos
remind me that I can do without the outdoor channels. Id rather go
out there and chalk up actual experiences and memories of my
own.

Bryce Lambley is the outdoors columnist for the Fremont Tribune

Categories: Hunting
Tags: Hunting